Dark Ones
The Dark Ones (original Russian: Чёрные "Blacks") are sentient humanoid creatures, descended from humans who survived the nuclear apocalypse and adapted to the new world. Overview The player rarely encounters dark ones during the game, but they are essentially the game’s primary antagonists. Dark ones prove to be very dangerous, mainly due to their telepathic abilities. They are physically quite weak, capable of being taken down with five shots from a revolver, but their psychic abilities more than make up for this. Morphology, Appearance, and Evolution The direct appearance of a dark one is quite strange. They have long arms and legs, all quite thin. The arms end in large hands that have long fingers. The skin color, just like many other mutants, is a dark ash-grey color. Despite their physical appearances, the dark ones are very closely related to humans, in terms of biology. However, the dark ones are much better adapted to the recently ravaged post-apocalyptic world. Homo novus as they are referred to, have evolved to be highly resistant to radiation, cold temperatures, and have extra-sensory perception. The dark ones are not capable of vocal communication, but they are able to communicate telepathically amongst themselves and with other beings. However, their telepathic powers are too strong for humans, and if they try to communicate with them without properly controlling these powers, they will inadvertently destroy the being's mind, and will slowly slip into insanity and die. They are able to create realistic illusions by manipulating the mind of their target. They are also able to induce fear telepathically to scare their enemies away and can literally 'think' their enemies to death or into a comatose state. They have one joint consciousness and communicate telepathically, however unlike in the game they are never mentioned as directly using their telepathic abilities to 'attack' the metro inhabitants, instead it is suggested most humans simply cannot comprehend their abilities and are driven insane when in close proximity. In the Metro 2033 video game the dark ones are able to telepathically speak to Artyom, being able to manipulate his mind, or sending him into a dream-like state. In the game to help Artyom understand their intent, the dark ones projected peaceful or nonthreatening images at several points in the game such as visions of children playing happily in a prewar playground or leaves on a tree to show him that they only want peace and understanding. It is implied in both iterations of 2033, that the dark ones wanted to use Artyom as an "ambassador" in order to convince the other humans to agree to a ceasefire or an alliance between both species, in order to re-establish human supremacy over the world. In the novel the dark ones choose Artyom as their "chosen one" because he was the one that opened the door in the botanical gardens, allowing them access to humans and the metro. It is somewhat implied that the dark ones were also committed to protecting Artyom throughout his journey by telepathically sending various protectors that would help him when the time came. Metro Last Light Dark ones have been more or less confirmed to appear in the upcoming sequel to Metro 2033, Metro Last Light. It is still unknown if the dark ones act in this sequel as vengeful antagonists, a dying and helpless race, or if they are even physically present. At the end of the Redemption trailer, there is what looks like a dark one standing over Artyom. In the Metro 2033 Novel Dark ones began their existence living in a 'beehive' on the surface at Botanicheskiy Sad (Botanical Gardens) metro station, which is located north of VDNKh Station, Artyom's home. They weren't bloodthirsty beasts as most of the inhabitants of the Metro believed, but sentient beings wanting nothing more but peace with humanity. Unfortunately Metro citizens didn't understand their desire to live in symbiotic society thus "striking back" before any attempt to create peace was ever made. The dark ones would approach VDNKh in long strides as if trying to simply walk into the station, they would only fight back once the guard stations protecting the station opened fire. After Artyom reaches Ostakino tower he can see the dark ones moving around their 'beehive' much like ants around a nest. Sensing Artyom as potential to become a link to communicate with each-other dark ones then tried to convince him to trust them and helped him in need during his journey. Unfortunately when Artyom finally understood his purpose it was too late - the missiles destroyed the dark ones' nest leaving Artyom heartbroken, empty and woeful. The dark ones also state to Artyom in the final chapter that they no longer have any ability or understanding as to how to create and use technology and so are approaching mankind on a joint venture, they help mankind survive and in return mankind can again come to the surface and rebuild civilization. One of the questions set by the novel is would humans really be co-species with the dark ones or is that in fact some form of slavery? The question is left unanswered, and the reader is permitted to formulate his/her own opinions about whether co-existence would have worked or not. Related Achievements Trivia * "Homo novus" means "new man" in Latin. * The first encounter of a dark one is actually of one's ghost. Artyom collides with it on Chase and enters its mind games, seeing Hunter shoot it. This likely means that Hunter killed this dark one at some point entering/leaving Exhibition, and it's infinitely reliving its final moments. * The content of the epilogue to Metro 2033 ("The Gospel According to Artyom") suggests that the Dark Ones find it easier to communicate with adolescents. The point below supports this idea further. * It has been speculated that Artyom was not the only one to by contacted by the dark ones. They are shown on several occasions to scour the dead city with little to no trouble and a notable number of children's drawings contain tall humanoid figures. ** One of dead stalkers found at the beginning of Depository has drawn the same tall figure on the floor with his knife before perishing as well. Gallery Dark one Dream.jpg|First dark one encounter during chase Dark_one_lost_catacombs.jpg|Second dark one encounter during Lost Catacombs level Darkone1.jpeg|Third dark one encounter during Dead City 1 level DarkOne2.jpeg|Fourth dark one encounter during Dead City 1 level DarkOne3.jpeg|Fifth dark one encounter during Dead City 1 level Dark_one_black_station.jpg|Sixth dark one encounter during Black Station Metro2033_(2)_2010-03-19_11-58-03-86.jpg|Seventh dark one encounter during Dark Star level Slider_0001.jpg|Eighth and last dark one encounter during Ethereal Dark_one_top_02.jpg|Ditto Dark_one_top_03.jpg|Ditto Dsfdaf.jpg|Dark one during 'Enlightened' ending. DarkOneConceptArt.jpg|Dark One official concept art. Bildota.jpg|Dark ones were supposed to appear much often in Metro 2033 beta Dark_ones_beta_0002.jpg|Ditto BlacksOnline.jpg|Concept art of the blacks for the Russian Metro 2033 Online 252751-header (1).jpg|A dark one in Metro Last Light. Category:Factions Category:Mutants